Collect Call
by AnonymouslyAddicted
Summary: "So, when I go to work in a dangerous situation, it's an addiction, but when you do it, it's a calling." "I am not constantly putting my life at risk." "No, just half the time." Iran related.


**A/N** : I've been thinking about this story on and off since 3.07, so that's a long time to be working on a story, even if I only sat down to write this a month ago. And it took a transatlantic flight for me to finally finish it. I mentioned this more than once but I will say it again – I don't think I will ever run out of the need to write things about Iran, and like any other Iran story, this is of course angst. But exploring a different kind of angst. I sure hope it still works and that you're not sick of me writing about this topic. I know I'm a bit MIA from writing lately but it's a bit of a struggle, not just with time but with ideas and the words? I don't know. I hope I'll figure it out soon. Anyway, I really want to know what you think of this! Thanks in advance!

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 **Collect Call**

Will inhaled the cold air of the streets of London as he exited the cab. It was refreshing, a change in atmosphere. He was in the Syrian desert for so long that he forgot what the rain felt like, and how much he like the tingle on his skin when the temperature dropped. It was still early in the morning and the streets were empty, save the few people that wandered. Will smiled at the elderly woman that passed by, nodding a greeting at her before making his way up the stairs to his three bedroom apartment.

He opened the door carefully, well aware of the creak it made. He didn't want to wake the other tenants of the house. He knew Sophie must have had a long night the night before, given that she had an exam that morning. Raising Annie almost by herself left her little time to finish her studies and Will knew he was the one to blame for that. Yet Sophie was the one who insisted on having a child, although Will made it very clear that he had no intention of staying put, even if they had a child. Ignoring the guilt of leaving them every single time was something Will became an expert at.

"Welcome home," Sophie whispered from the living room, glancing from her books to meet his eyes.

Will smiled and made his way to his wife, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Didn't I tell you that studying all night right before your exam isn't wise?"

"I didn't, I got up a while ago, I needed to go over this one last time. And also…" she trailed, avoiding his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to see you before I'm heading out, we need to talk."

Will narrowed his eyes and sat next to her on the couch. If there was one thing he knew, it was that phrase meant nothing good.

"Did you talk to Elizabeth recently?"

"Elizabeth?" Will raised a brow. He was not expecting his sister's name to come up. "I haven't heard from her since the last time I was home, why?"

Closing her books and setting them aside, Sophie took his hand and his features immediately changed, his eyes clouding as concern colored his face. "I don't want you to worry, because I assume she's okay now."

"Now?" Will asked, his voice slightly higher than intended.

Sophie nodded. "Did you hear about the coup in Iran?"

Will took a moment to consider her question. "Yes, I heard something about a coup, I don't know much. Was she there?"

"She was. But she was also on some talk show yesterday and she seems fine."

Will nodded. There was more, he knew it. "So why are you telling me this?"

"Because I think you should call her. The news say that one of her security detail died protecting her."

Blinking fast, Will was trying to take in this information. His sister's life was at risk? And she didn't call him to tell him that she was alright? _Was_ she alright?

"Will," Sophie called, trying to get his attention back to her. "You can be mad later. Right now you should really talk to her."

He was pacing around the house for hours. With the time differences, it was still too early to call her and he didn't want to worry her that something had happened to him. So he waited. He tried to eat but it only made him nauseous. He tried to sleep but instead he just tossed and turned in bed. She was his blood, the only one he had left after their parents died. She took care of him, and gave up so much for him, and he couldn't even keep in touch long enough to make her feel like she should call him. _She never called him_ , and it wasn't the first time.

 _January, 1995_

"Will?" Henry's voice was shaking, he could hear it even over the phone.

He rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the darkness of the room. Sophie stirred next to him, squinting at the sound of the phone ringing. Living with a doctor who was always after the next disaster to save people, she was well accustomed to him leaving in the middle of the night, but usually with some heads up. He rarely got urgent phone calls, and when he did it was usually bad news.

"Henry? Is everything okay?" Will's voice was laced with sleep, groggy as he spoke.

"No," Henry replied and his voice cracked.

"Henry, what happened? Where is my sister?" Will was wide awake now, sitting straight up in bed, his senses alerted.

"She's in the ICU… She…" Henry sniffled. He needed to stay strong, he should have. But he might lose his wife and he didn't even know how it all happened.

"Henry, I need you to tell me what happened."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Henry sank to the floor. "She was in labor and we rushed over here but the baby was in distress and so they had to take her to do a C-Section." He closed his eyes, images of the last couple of hours flashing before his eyes. "I don't… I don't know what happened. They kicked me out of the room when all the monitors started to beep and hours later the doctor told me that she was in danger and they had to keep her under and give her blood." Taking another deep breath, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "They… They lost her twice on the table, Will."

Will blinked over and over, trying to keep the tears from falling. He didn't even know Elizabeth was pregnant. She never told him that. But then again, he probably hadn't spoken to her in more than six months. Now she was lying on that bed, her life at risk and he was so far away. Always one to run around saving people, he wasn't sure he could make it in time to save his sister.

"Is the baby okay?" He heard himself ask, but he wasn't quite sure how the words formed.

"She is, a healthy baby girl that looks just like her," Henry replied and Will could hear the smile in his voice.

"I'm going to catch the first flight over, okay? I'm on my way." And God, how he wished he would be there in time.

 _Present Day_

Her alarm buzzed when the clock hit 6:30 and she groaned. After Iran, she couldn't find the rest she needed, always stirring in bed, unable to close her eyes without the terror haunting her. But since the panic attack, and once she started talking to Dr. Sherman about what had happened, she found that sleep came more easily. She was still tired, though. Her body still exhausted from the entire ordeal, her mind still not giving her a rest.

She rolled on her other side, finding the warmth of the figure lying next to her. With her eyes closed, she smiled, snuggling closer to her husband and drifting back to sleep. He wrapped an arm around her waist, careful not to touch the stitches that still held her wound together. He was fast asleep too then, only to be awoken by the loud ringing sound of her phone.

They both groaned and when Elizabeth stretched to reach the phone, she winced in pain and retreated. Leaning over her, Henry unplugged the phone, his eyes landing on the screen.

"It's Will," he announced in surprise and Elizabeth's eyes shot open.

Will rarely ever called her. She was usually the one to stay in touch and with everything that was going on in her life right now, she failed to do so. If he was calling so early in the morning it couldn't mean good news.

"Will, is everything alright?" Elizabeth fired the minute she took the call.

"I believe I should be asking you that… How do you almost get yourself _killed_ in Iran and not tell me about it?!" he asked in anger.

Sighing, she fell back against the pillows, wincing when she landed too hard on her wounds. Henry looked at her with concern and she offered him a small smile and a shrug of her shoulders. He was about to leave and give her privacy when she tugged at his sleeve and pulled him back to stay next to her. Will was hard to handle on a normal day, she couldn't handle him all on her own today.

"I'm sorry, Will. I was a little busy. But I am okay, thanks for asking." She couldn't keep the sarcasm in her voice even if she wanted to.

"Lizzie, tell me what happened."

"There was an explosion that threw me to the floor. The glass of the window behind me caused most of the damage, but everything is superficial. I promise."

Snorting, Henry rolled his eyes. It was such a simplification, and nothing like what really happened. She neglected to say that the bruises were harsh and would take a while to heal completely; that her security detail died protecting her from gunfire that could've killed her otherwise; that the other person in that room did, in fact, die; that she had to take a trip down to the hospital just to realize she had PTSD. But other than that, sure, everything was superficial. He didn't want to be mad her for making things to be so much less than they actually were. Truth was, he knew it was her coping mechanism, especially when she was talking to Will. But he was also the one that was left behind, the one to spend hours wondering if he would ever get to see her again, and the one that was there now to pick up her pieces.

Narrowing her eyes, Elizabeth gave him a look and he retreated. It was one thing to acknowledge what had happened to her when she was with him, and an entirely different thing to do the same with her brother. After Stevie's birth, she refused to speak to him simply because he called Will. When he tried to reason with her that Will was family and that he deserved to know she simply said that he had no idea what loss really felt like, and that growing up as an orphan changes you. He couldn't argue with that and so he just apologized and vowed to never come between her and her brother again.

"Thanks for giving me the company line, Lizzie. Now can you please get into more details or do I have to _google_ that?" Will asked.

 _Shit_. Elizabeth so often forgot that being a public figure meant that everything about her was available online, which meant that she couldn't really hide this from him. It was easier when she was in the CIA, or when she was teaching at UVA. But being Secretary of State, it was odd he took this long to even hear that something had happened to her and she attributed it to the fact that while he was in Syria he didn't really have time to listen to the news.

"Look, there was a scare over there, okay? I could've died. But I didn't, and this is all that matters." As the words left her mouth she felt Henry's hold tighten around her and his breath hitched in his chest. She could've died. And if Fred wasn't brave enough, fast enough, she would have. She promised him she will return, that nothing bad will happen, but something did happen. And it nearly cost her life.

"Elizabeth," Will said with more authority than before. "Someone died. Your security guy died. That shot was meant for _you_."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I know," she replied, unable to say anything more.

"You are mad at me for leaving my family and putting my life at risk when you go off to a country that's preparing for war and you nearly get yourself blown up!" Will was shouting now, although he knew deep down he probably shouldn't. "After everything we've been through, with Mom and Dad dying in that car accident, how can you be this reckless? How can you be this selfish?!"

Will was too busy with the lecture he was giving her to notice the shallow breaths coming from the other end of the line. Henry took the phone from her hand when she began to struggle for a breath, throwing it on the bed and focusing his attention on her.

"Breathe, babe," he muttered, his hands soothing over her arms. "You're here, you're safe."

She gasped for air, holding tight to his forearm. It was only 24 hours ago that she had the first panic attack and she wasn't ready to face another one. Not yet. Her ears were ringing again, the deafening sound of shots being fired and the screaming of Abdul as the bullet hit his father. She rocked her body back and forth, wishing the noise away. She needed this to stop, the horror in her head.

"Hey, baby. Look at me," Henry tried to force her attention back to him. "Open your eyes, look at me."

Blinking, she met his hazelnut eyes. They were dark with worry, and the lines at the side of his eyes indicated the fear that he was under for the past week. "Listen to my voice, okay? I'm right here with you."

Elizabeth nodded, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "There's nothing here that can hurt you. The threat is over. It's just you and me, babe."

"He… died… because… of… _me_ ," she mumbled, sobbing between each word.

"Shh," Henry whispered, pulling her to his chest. "Just breathe now, okay?"

Pressing her ear to his beating heart, Henry ran his hand in her hair, slowly calming her down. He took deep breaths and exhaled loudly, silently coaxing her to join him. When her breaths evened, she glanced at the phone, the call was still running. But Elizabeth couldn't think of talking to her brother, not now. He probably listened to everything that had just happened, and she really didn't plan on telling him that she suffered from PTSD; that she has panic attacks. That information wasn't public and she was planning on holding that piece of information to herself. She looked at Henry, her eyes filled with tears and sadness and he nodded, pressing a kiss to her temple and pulling her closer to him.

"Will," Henry called as he picked up the phone.

"Is she okay?" Will asked, concerned.

"She will be. But you need to give her some space. And cut her some slack, okay? She's beating herself up over this without you yelling at her."

Sinking into the couch at his home, Will sighed. He was an asshole to his own sister. Sophie tried to tell him to leave his anger aside and he didn't listen. Instead, he lashed out at her and he wasn't even aware of the situation.

"Can you put me on speaker? I want her to hear this," Will asked.

Hesitating, Henry pressed the speaker button.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Lizzie. I love you."

The call disconnected and a beeping sound came from the phone.

Silence filled the room then. "I'm not them, Will," Elizabeth whispered. _She wasn't_.


End file.
